8 July 2026
The Project Café Goa: the villa where the art fights back
In sleepy Aldona, a 150-year-old Portuguese villa is now an art-first boutique hotel where the paintings, the plates and even the furniture are for sale.
Most people land in Goa and bolt for the beach strip. Aldona does not do strips. It is an inland village in North Goa, all heritage homes and heavy greenery, the kind of place the hotel's own website describes as somewhere "time slows down and nature takes the lead". At its centre sits a 150-year-old Portuguese villa that The Project Café has turned into what it cheerfully calls an "art riot lifestyle boutique hotel". Riot is pushing it. But it is certainly not a quiet whitewashed heritage stay either.
The backstory helps. The Project Café started in Ahmedabad in 2015, in a pre-independence art deco bungalow, as an art studio and café rolled into one. The Goa villa is where the idea grew a bed. Or seven of them: the hotel counts six bedrooms and one heritage suite in one breath and eight large bedrooms in another, so numbers are clearly not the point here, each done differently on purpose.
The film
The stay
The rooms are named after Goan places; Colva, Tiracol, Miramar and Chapora are the four it names, and the design has real personality. Think striped ceilings with hidden glow lighting, tall scalloped headboards in marigold bird prints or indigo block prints, carved dark-wood almirahs, and French doors opening onto a balcony in the trees or straight onto the pool terrace. There is a proper pool with green parasols, a café, a restaurant, an art bar that runs to 11pm, a gallery that doubles as an event space, and a lifestyle shop.
Here is the bit we like most. Nearly everything you touch is for sale. The hotel says outright that if something catches your eye, you can own it, from the art and glassware down to the actual furniture. Falling for your headboard could get expensive.
It is also genuinely a platform, not just a pretty shell. The events calendar runs from art exhibits and culinary pop-ups to bar takeovers, musical evenings and workshops, so the courtyard has a pulse beyond breakfast.
Worth knowing
The published tariff we saw, for July to September 2025, was Rs 10,000 a night on weekdays and Rs 12,000 at weekends, including seasonal breakfast, excluding GST. Check-in is 2pm, checkout 11am. It is pet friendly, the Wi-Fi is billed as high-speed, and there is a board room if you must. Coffee runs from 8am, the restaurant from noon to 10pm.
One honest caveat: this is village Goa. You come here for slow mornings, long lunches and a nosey around the gallery, not for a beach at the gate. For a certain kind of traveller, that is exactly the point.
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Inside The Project Café Goa
The rooms
The Colva
An upstairs room under a bold black-and-white striped ceiling, with an arched ikat-print headboard, red cushions, a carved dark-wood mirrored almirah and French doors to a private balcony in the treetops.
The Tiracol
A room with an indigo block-print upholstered bed, a glowing red-and-cream striped ceiling cove, a monochrome striped bench, and doors that open straight onto the pool terrace.
The Miramar
Pale blue walls, a tall scalloped headboard in marigold printed with white birds, a backlit striped ceiling, a full-length standing mirror and French doors to a verandah beside the pool.
The Chapora
Warm grey-and-terracotta walls under an orange striped ceiling cove, a stepped fabric headboard, a sage quilt with a pink border, writing desk with kettle and tea tray, and doors to the garden and pool.
Amenities
Private swimming poolArt gallery and event spaceIn-house café, restaurant and art barLifestyle shopHigh-speed Wi-FiPet friendlyBoard room for 12 to 16Parking
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Stays featured in the Journal are part of the Indiaesque collection. All information believed correct as of 8 July 2026. Errors and omissions excepted.
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